


In the Mists of Sounds

by dasakuryo



Series: Small Measure of Peace [1]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Post-Battle of Scarif, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-11-16 15:13:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11255529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dasakuryo/pseuds/dasakuryo
Summary: Jyn wants to learn Festian, but grows increasingly frustrated with the challenge. Cassian tries to encourage her, determined to not let her give up. A simple confusion of words will prompt an awkward situation for the two of them, but then there might be some truth underlying the misunderstanding. //[In which Jyn tries to learn Festian and finds herself in deep waters.]





	In the Mists of Sounds

**Author's Note:**

> Written for forestpenguin and vaultfox, who enjoy and wanted some Cassian speaking Spanish ;)

The data-pad met the table with a loud clank. Jyn grunted, rubbed her temples and buried her face in her hands, letting out another equally frustrated grunt. Cassian pushed the device forth until it jogged her elbow.

Somehow, he managed to swallow the chortle that crept up his throat at her murderous glare.

"I've said I give up," her reminder was practically a scowl.

Tilting his head to one side, Cassian stifled a smile. He raised a cynical eyebrow before retorting; "really?" he tried to keep the smile tugging at his lips at bay. The least he wanted was to upset her any further.

"Yes, _really_. This," her hand waved back and forth above the data pad with haste, "is impossible. I give up. I quit."

He folded his arms, his lips twitched to the side as Jyn pushed the data-pad away from her and towards him again. He stopped her short, laying his hand on the blackened screen. Jyn held his gaze, defiance to the hard lines sweeping over her cheeks. He allowed himself to flash another smile.

"It's a process, Jyn. It's supposed to take time," the soft understanding of his voice tinged the statement with encouraging cadence. Still, it didn't seem to reach Jyn.

Her nostrils seemed to flare. It was curious how this whole exchange was frustration, anger and harshness from her side, and softness, patience and a light tease from his. Not that he found her struggle and frustration a laughing, nor mocking, matter… but it was pretty funny how she'd rather face a whole battalion of Stormtroopers head on armed with nothing but her batons and a blaster, instead of sitting down for an hour to study language grammar and lexis.

Perhaps the topics weren't the most interesting ones in existence; perhaps going over and over and over _again_ over formulaic and set phrases got tiring after practicing the example dialogues for three minutes straight; perhaps drawing to conclusions and trying to guess rules and meaning from context wasn't particularly easy – _I can barely understand three words out of ten, Cassian, for kriff's sake_ , had been Jyn's eloquent way of putting it.

He granted her all that. But if she couldn't grasp and operate with the basics first, it would be impossible to make use of the language the way she intended to. There was no way she'd be able to follow a conversation and persuade independent rebels to join the Alliance flanks if she kept confusing how to ask rudimentary and sheer casual questions.

"Maybe we don't have this time to spare," she fought back, fingers tapping on the durasteel to a quick tempo.

Cassian leant back on his seat before letting out a imperturbably, "Jyn, we are doing this while on hyperspace and _after_ finishing keying reports _, after_ going over our next instructions from base and directives for upcoming missions," his hand clasped the crook of his bended arm, "there isn't technically any other fruitful thing we could be devoting this time to."

Jyn pinched her lips together; the rosy tint gave room to white. Something told him she hadn't liked his answer, not in the slightest. But Cassian wasn't going to let her yield to frustration, not when it had been _her_ who had approached him with the idea, when it had been her who had been genuinely interested in learning to be able to help him.

Besides, Jyn had survived, living on the run for years. She did have a skill for languages, even though she wasn't aware of it claimed she didn't. One wasn't able to survive in a multi-lingual galaxy filled with bounty hunters, more than eager to get a stash of shiny credits, when there was a reward waiting to be collected with one's name attached to it if one couldn't at least recognize and understand certain key phrases and words.

Cassian had had first-hand experience in the challenges learning another language posed. He'd had to learn a handful of them as part of his training for intelligence.

"It takes time," he reminded her once more, voice laced with calmness and understanding, "you won't master a language overnight. It took you a few years to learn Basic," he treaded carefully, fully aware he was wading into sensitive waters, tapping into echoes of her memory that could prompt but heartache, "you have to stop judging yourself so… _severely_ ," he wanted the beam at her, reassuringly, if only for a brief second, but decided against it.

Jyn rolled his eyes, and all but puffed-out cheeks, heaved an exasperated sigh. She pressed her lips together, let out a sound through clenched teeth that resembled another frustrated grunt awfully well, before leaning forward. The data-pad skidded and rasped over the table, before its rear end rested again atop her knees. There was a bright blue glow clinging to her vest. She scraped a hand over her face, blew out another heavy outbreath complaint, and pressed her index finger to her mouth.

Cassian leant back on his seat, grabbed his own data-pad. He kept stealing glances every now and again to Jyn, who kept puffing out her breathing, but kept reading —her gaze moved from left to right, slowly but steadily and surely. He noticed she stopped short when rolling her shoulders, tensed, and gripped the dura-plast. She let out another faint grunt through gritted teeth.

She must have reached either the grammar rules or the activities. Either way, it didn't make much of a difference to ease her anxiety. Cassian figured it wasn't the right time to bring out the little fact about having an inclining to pick up languages, even at an unconscious level. It wouldn't be sensible, and he doubted Jyn would appreciate it, even if he'd the best intentions at heart.

Or he could try another angle entirely.

He set the data-pad aside and cleared his throat. Jyn snapped to attention, nearly jolting, but masked her startle successfully arching a sly brow at him. She'd spent a good few minutes explaining in Galactic Basic the impact this endeavor was having on her nerves –or rather _complaining_ about how it all made her feel. They'd been over this lexis, and albeit some minor and expected mistakes, he knew Jyn knew how to answer that simple question.

"Entonces, ¿cómo te sientes?"

She rolled her eyes at him. He cleared his throat again and waved his hand forth.

"Jyn, sé que lo sabes," probably she would argue with him at that statement and claim that no, she didn't know that, "me siento—" he trailed off, giving the ending a raising tone and waving his hand forth again.

Jyn nibbled her bottom lip, fixed her gaze on the metal surface before her. Her nose scrunched up as her frown deepened, a whispered hum flowing out her parted lips.  The tapping on the table increased its tempo, she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Mi siento…" Cassian didn't bother pointing out there was a mistake, that the correct vowel sound should have been that of an e, he knew she was picturing words written down in her mind, and it didn't help when the sounds in Basic clashed and mingled through unconsciously, "¿qué es.. embarrassed?" _cómo,_ he corrected to himself. Albeit the mistakes, it was good, there was improvement. She knew how to place the words to fit the structures they'd been working on. Cassian took notice of the new creases on her forehead, but remained silent, "¿qué… decir… embarrassed?"

They'd have to go over interrogatives and conjugations _,_ Cassian realized upon listening to Jyn's next attempt. There was a thud, a clank promptly followed. Her impatience building up for her foot to join her fingers, rhythmical materialization of frustration. Her fingers curled, almost touching her palms. The corner of his lips twisted up in turn when she puffed out a heavy sigh, eyes still closed, lips pressed shut and tight. Her face twisted into a deeper grimace before her eyes fluttered open, hands ready rubbing at her temples.

Another heavy sigh. There was a sharper clang when she dropped her arm onto the table; the noise almost loud enough to drown out her unintelligible grumbling —his Huttese was rather rusty, but he recognized a few colorful epithets.

"Which was… how do I say embarrassed?" she practically scowled, running her fingers through her hair.

"Jyn—" he merely said, his tone warning, "sé que lo sabes," she knew the word; she just needed it to worm it out from her memory.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise to him when she muttered a curse under her breath, burying her face on her hands. The tapping on the floor stooped down, but kept on clanking out at irregular intervals. She plucked the hair tie with haste; her hair swept forward and framed her face. Her gaze fixed for a fleeting second on the turned-off data-pad before her, eyes narrowing and lips clamping.

"Me siento…" she tried again, fingertips drumming on the blackened screen, "estoy," she changed mid-phrase, a reassurance to the firmness of her voice that made his eyes crinkled up at the corners, even though he'd managed to keep his expression blank and swallowed the smile tugging at his lips.

Jyn locked eyes with him. He dipped his head down, his eyebrows lifted, hinting unspoken words of reassurance. A shadow of a wan smile played across her face for a flickering second, before she was back at staring at the table, teeth nipping her lip.

"Estoy—" she tried again, this time the vowel rolled out of her lips with the correct, though the sound that followed, though familiar, seemed to slip on her tongue, "estoy… estoy… embarrassed, embarrassed," she shifted and mumbled in Basic under her breath. She sucked in a breath, clicked her tongue, "estoy… embarazada."

She squared up her shoulders and straightened up, a smile spread across her face, radiant and glowing at her achievement. Or so she thought. It took every ounce of Cassian's willpower not to dissolve into laughter right then and there. He resorted to every tactic and teaching of his training and skilled expertise to keep his expression vacant and devoid of any emotion.

Drawing a balled hand to his mouth, he cleared his throat before handing out the offhand comment, "Jyn, remember what we said about false equivalences—" eyes narrowed, her nose scrunched up, and he felt a pang of guilt tugging at his chest when his cough barely masked the laughter which send a sudden spasm through his stomach, "words that appear to be the translation, the word you're looking for… but they have a different meaning entirely?" his voice went up at the end, hoping realization dawned on her and she realized the mistake without him having to point it out.

Instead of her face contorting into something around embarrassment, more creases broke through her already confused expression. Her lip quirked, eyebrows squished together, she even shrugged.

"What do you mean? I'm embarrassed, that's what I said," she retorted, utterly unaware of what she'd actually meant by that adjective.

"You've said embarazada," he said, twiddling his fingers, pressed the knuckles to his chin. It was his turn to tap his foot on the durasteel floor, though out of other emotions but frustration entirely, "I'd hazard a guess that's not the word you were looking for— avergonzada… instead," Cassian said, choosing his words carefully, "meaning you're feeling self-conscious, kind of ashamed."

"I thought that was what I meant," she huffed, grunting again. She brought a hand to her face, rubbed her finger on her cheek and frowned, "what did I say then?"

Cassian mulled over the possibility of ignoring the question altogether, simply shrugging it off as the use of a wrong word and nothing else. But then again, he did mention false equivalences seconds ago. Judging by the way Jyn had turned her inquisitive curious gaze on him; she was expecting a straightforward —or at least, an honest— answer to her question. Trying to work his way around it instead could earn him another annoyed glare, if he dared to imply through actions that she wouldn't be able to take the natural blow of a simple correction.

But she was growing increasingly frustrated with the struggles this learning set before her, Cassian didn't want to stock anything else on top of that. He really did not want her to upset her any further.

Jyn was practically glaring at him then, regardless. Or perhaps there was an edge of askance to her insistent staring. Eyebrows raised, shoulders lifted in a shrug, her hand bobbing in the air.  It was Cassian turn to let out the breath he'd sucked in in a heaved sigh.

"Pregnant," he uttered, finally, "I'm guessing that wasn't what you intended to say, was it?" he didn't ask the question to be cheeky about it; he genuinely wanted to soften the impact on her already discouraged state.

Regardless, it didn't go as planned. In the blink of an eye there was a deep red tint to Jyn's cheeks, she avoided his gaze as though the mere glimpse of him would melt off her retinas. At least, she didn't say she was quitting when she rose to his feet —or perhaps he didn't catch it. She stormed out of the room like a wild caged claw-cat that had managed to break free from its prison, before Cassian even had the chance to remind her that was one of the most common errors she'd to be mindful of.

It took him almost a standard month to talk her into taking up the language again. She never brought up the incident, though the faint scarlet clouds on her cheeks when trying to answer that simple question —whichever the context— were obvious indicators it'd been far from forgotten.

Cassian pretended it had never happened, never brought it up either. Hilarious as the confusion might had been, Jyn was evidently awkwardly mortified about it —though he'd never dared to ask whether it was rooted in the implication itself, or in the fact she'd not realized about the mix-up until he pointed it out.

The misunderstanding remained stashed away in the past, forgotten.

* * *

 

Cassian heard the rustle of the sheets, the creak, when Jyn crawled into bed. He untied the laces of his boots, swiftly kicked them off his feet. He hadn't even shifted, nor moved a muscle, to properly get into bed when he felt the warmness of her body on his back, the warm squeeze of her arms wrapped around him, her hair tickling his neck. The tip of her nose nuzzled over his pulse. She hooked her chin over his shoulder.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

Jyn had been acting off that day. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but she'd been acting strange. Not on edge, Cassian knew how to tell that apart. This was _different;_ different from all those times she'd been anxious about a mission, different from the painful heartache of vivid nightmares. It was as if she were nervous. The image of her nibbling at her lip while he cooked dinner flashed through his mind. Maybe it'd been the light, maybe he was just seeing things that weren't there after being away for so long, maybe her eyes hadn't glimmered at all, maybe there hadn't been a trace of a smile lighting up her face.

Cassian felt the gentle prod and soft flush of her lips pressing on his shoulder. He took a deep breath, practically leaning onto the fleeting, brief touch. Contented hums built up in his throat when her lips pressed another kiss, right below his earlobe, sending tickles and shivers over his skin.

"Everything's fine," she assured, whispering under her breath.

He turned around, gaze searching her eyes, posing the question yet again without uttering a sound. Jyn bit her lips, trying to hide the smile that crept in when he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. He was quick to cradle her face with his palm.

"You sure?" he ended up asking again, feeling his brow creasing, his hand meandered down to stroke her side almost out of reflex. Jyn merely nodded. His eyes squinted, fingers gripping her waist. Jyn bit her lips again, did not utter a sound.

All of a sudden, she took his hand in hers. Her smile widened and his face contorted in confusion, but Cassian let her tow his hand, brushing it over the warmth radiating from her, wrinkling the glistenlinen of her gown. The lazy guided stroll came to a halt.

His fingers twitched on her abdomen—

Right below her belly button.

"Estoy embarazada," it had been barely above a whisper, quivering, trembling and overwhelmed with emotion.

His muscles froze. For a fleeting moment, his brain froze. He backtracked over it, blinking in disbelief, trying to wrap his mind around meaning and reality; even though the connection was obvious, evident, and had _already_ been made.

Those were the words she _was_ looking for indeed. _She really meant it this time._

His gaze bounced from Jyn's downcast eyes to her hand cradling his atop her stomach. The laugh that blossomed in his chest choked him, constricted his throat that merely a heave rolled out his mouth. He pulled his hand away from her waist, and practically clawed at his mouth.

Jyn's eyes crinkled up and widened at the odd, unexpected sound. An edge of fear to her suddenly parted lips, dread clung to every crease of her face twisting. The unrelenting hammering in his chest petrified behind his ribs, blood running cold and thick, when the unequivocal sound of a swallowed whimper slid out of her lips.

He cradled her face and pressed his lips to hers. He swallowed her whimper, and the yelp of surprise that followed. He grazed his lips over hers, caressing, stroking her mouth with fondling, slow brushes. He chafed each ounce of reassurance, bliss, sheer joy that had shattered with his paralyzed overwhelmed reaction back into her. She stifled a giggle against his lips.

Her green eyes impossibly bright under the yellow undertones of the halo light.

"Jyn," he breathed out, struggling to find the words, the huge smile tugging at his face and making his cheeks hurt gloriously. He had a million thoughts going through his mind in that very moment, thousands of things he wanted to voice in celebration, but he merely managed to articulate a choked and rather gawkily obvious, "vas a ser mamá."

She burst out laughing, body shaking in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and choked with his own laughter in the warm, welcoming crook of her neck. When the spasms of joy and the trembling died out, Jyn looped her arms around his chest too, drawing him closer. The tip of her nose nuzzling on his, she bit down a smile.

"You're going to be a father, you know?" she chimed in, echoing the sentiment his own previous quivering realization.

He kissed her again, this time tenderer, warmer and _deeper_.

 

Cassian watched her sleep, curled up against his chest. He felt the rhythmical, even, soft rise and fall of her breathing. His hand stroked her arm, smoothing the hardened skin the chill of night had clung to her. She hummed and shifted in her sleep, snuggling closer to him.

He drew out his hand from behind his neck. Her breathing send warm and hot shivers across his chest. His fingers skimmed her dark brown locks away from her face. He'd have pressed a kiss to the top of her head, but the angle was awkward and he didn't want to startle Jyn awake. Instead, his fingertips kissed ghostly the curve of her waist over the soft cloth. A smile tugged at his lips.

"You should sleep while you can, Cassian," Jyn muttered against his sternum.

He heaved a chortle. After years of fleeting sleep and being woken up by blaring alarms, an upcoming mission, a surprise attack on base or on his life… after so long of being kept awake by the horrors of war when the world turned dark, while everything and everyone should had been but stillness, calm and dulled peace, Cassian couldn't think of a better, more glorious reason for mauve to flourish under his eyes than _hope_ , _their_ hope materialized and true at last—

The freedom and peace that had awaited them at the end of the fight without them even knowing.

**Author's Note:**

> Are not misunderstandings with languages both hilarious and awkward sometimes? Of course that I had to connect the second part of the story with Under These Starlit Skies, it was too tempting, not to mention fitting. I hope you've enjoyed the story :) Thanks a lot for reading! Feedback is sincerely appreciated! :)  
> 
> 
> * * *
> 
>   
>  **Translations**  
>  -"Entonces, ¿cómo te sientes?": So, how do you feel?  
> -"Jyn, sé que lo sabes": Jyn, I know you know this  
> -"¿qué es.. embarrassed?": what's... embarrased?  
> -cómo: how  
> -Estoy: I am  
> -"vas a ser mamá": You're going to be a mother.


End file.
